by Ed Brackett, USA TODAY

by Ed Brackett, USA TODAY

The Senate has confirmed President Obama's pick to run the the U.S. Treasury.

Jack Lew's nomination was approved Wednesday on a 71-26 vote.

The chairman of the Senate Budget committee praised the nominee, and the vote, in a statement issued afterward.

"Jack understands what it takes to tackle our economic and fiscal challenges in a balanced and bipartisan way," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., "and I am very glad that the Senate voted today to confirm him with strong bipartisan support so he can get to work."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he looks forward to "working with him to bring middle-class families the economic security they deserve."

Lew was recently the president's chief of staff.

Obama said of Lew after the vote: "His reputation as a master of fiscal issues who can work with leaders on both sides of the aisle has already helped him succeed in some of the toughest jobs in Washington."

The president said he would continue to rely on Lew's advice and judgment "as we work to create good, middle-class jobs, provide more people with the skills those jobs require and ensure every hardworking American can earn a decent living."

Among those voting no was an independent who caucuses with the Senate's majority party Democrats, Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

"We need a secretary of the Treasury who does not come from Wall Street but is prepared to stand up to the enormous power of Wall Street," Sanders said in a statement. "We need a Treasury secretary who will end the current Wall Street business model of operating the largest gambling casino the world has ever seen and demand that Wall Street start investing in the job-creating productive economy."

Sanders said in his release he is a supporter of Obama, a Democrat, but is "extremely concerned that virtually all of his key economic advisers have come from Wall Street."

No Democrats voted against Lew's nomination, according to a roll call tally posted on the Senate's website.

Twenty Republicans voted in favor of confirmation.

Among those voting no was Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who had criticized Lew's 2008 tenure as a Citigroup investment executive at a Senate Finance committee confirmation hearing on Feb. 13. Lew defended his accepting a $940,000 bonus a day before Citigroup got a $301 billion federal bailout in the days of the U.S. financial crisis.

Lew said he "was compensated in a manner similar" to others in similar positions in banking at the time.

The new Treasury secretary has also served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Democratic presidents Obama and Clinton and as Obama's deputy secretary of State.

Lew succeeds Timothy Geithner, who had served through Obama's first term before stepping down Jan. 25. A Treasury deputy secretary, Neal Wolin, has served as interim secretary since then.